Tectonic Rift
by BlackCavern
Summary: Three kittens rescued and taken in by Shadowclan. However, some outsiders can't integrate like others and like a tectonic plate, will move slowly away
1. Chapter 1

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_Brown and silver stood out faintly from the underbrush, the soft feathery fur smeared with mud. Pine needles were plastered on the fur of the small cat. The tom-kit was not alone though, two other forms were just beside him. His two brothers, but where was the mom? Where was she? If she wasn't around, that meant, three lonely and abandoned kits...who would save them? The brown and silver one let out a muffled cry as he scooted closer to the only warmth, his two brothers._

_Seeing Coyote frozen in terror, the ruddy pelted one, Jackal, butted him in the shoulder. "We'll be alright, you'll see." He said, "Mom'll come home in the morning." Sadly, Jackalkit didn`t know if he was telling the truth to his brothers or not._

_The third one, the dark auburn kitten snarled, "Don't fool yourself, Mom is gone, she's not coming back". They were stuck in this stinking marsh, he wouldn't have minded the cold so much except for Coyotekit freaking out and Jackalkit trying to be tough. Why were they staying there anyway? It was just too bad that they couldn't get up and leave._

_"Wolf, do you think so? Did Mom really just leave us?" Coyote whispered._

_Jackal pulled himself up and yowled "Help! Is anyone there?" his mews were puny and quickly lost in the vast marshes._

* * *

"Rise and shine!" a small voice mewed. The auburn kitten felt the ground shake and a thudding sound pounded into his head. He opened one amber eye then laid his head back down. The ruddy kitten however flipped over and jumped up with almost as much gusto as his brother.

By the time the auburn kitten decided to sit up his two brothers were bouncing around the only grown cat in the nursery, their surrogate mother. "Willowleaf! Was Duststar being serious? Are we gonna be apprentices?" Coyotekit squealed.

Wolfkit felt his ears droop, as much as he internally attempted to be excited for this corner stone of his life but if felt like a wet blanket of moss was carelessly tossed over his optimism. So he pulled his carcass back to sleep while Jackalkit and Coyotekit bombarded Willowleaf with questions.

His lethargy was somewhat cured when the voice of Duststar was heard from clear across the camp. Even he felt a stab of excitement that prompted him to stand up and shake the moss and pine needles out of his fur.

Jackalkit bounded with a mixture of anxiousness and unbounded excitement as Willowleaf herded the trio out of the nursery for the last time. Duststar was proudly stationed on the lowest branch of the Shadow Tree where she could gaze down on her domain. Jackalkit lifted his chin and proudly strutted to the base of the tree.

Coyotekit portrayed himself right beside his more optimistic brother casting an occasional glance at Wolfkit who dragged a bit behind. This-according to Willowleaf, the elders, and all their wisdom-was his day of glory and the little brown and silver kitten was planning to make it a day to remember.

Once the three small kittens were seated in a neat row at the base of the tree, Duststar leaped down and started the whole purpose of the meeting.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Shadow Tree for a clan meeting. "Jackalkit. From now on until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Jackalpaw. Ghostheart, you will be Jackalpaw's mentor, pass on your confidence and skill to this young apprentice and teach him the skills of a strong warrior."

Ghostheart, their savior, the one who brought them away from the stinking marsh that they were ditched in. Needless to say the newly named Jackalpaw couldn't feel more honored. He practically ran up to the light furred she-cat and nearly barreled into her. After the traditional touching of noses Jackalpaw sat down shivering with pride.

Duststar then pulled the brown kit into the sunlight.

"Coyotekit, from now on you will be known as Coyotepaw. Shalefur, you are ready for an apprentice, you will be mentor to Coyotepaw. I trust you will pass on your strength and judgement to this young apprentice."

A few of the spectators grinned at Duststar's knack for putting opposites together.

"Wolfkit. From now until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Wolfpaw."

Duststar paused, it didn't take a genius to guess how hard she had to consider to figure out what kind of mentor was best for a stubborn, unenthusiastic kitten.

"Sageclaw, you will be mentor to Wolfpaw. I know you will pass on your compassion and patience to this young apprentice."

Wolfpaw tried everything in his power to shrug nonchalantly, Sageclaw was guaranteed to be an easy mentor, he was excited.

After the ceremonial traditions Wolfpaw padded over to his siblings. "This is great! What'll we learn first?" Jackalkit gushed shaking with energy.

"Why don't you go get yourselves settled in the apprentice den? After you're done we can go see the territory." Ghostheart mewed and seconds later all three apprentices tore off.

Coyotepaw was first to poke his head into the den, "Wow! This is so much bigger then the nursery!"

"No it isn't it's just that we're the only ones here." Wolfpaw corrected. The warrior ceremony for Redwing and Thrushfeather a few days ago cleared out the Apprentice Den.

Ignoring the comment Coyotepaw turned a quick circle then dashed out of the den and back to where their mentors were still standing.

"We'll head to the Thunderclan border first, we can take a look at the Great Marsh on the way." Shalefur declared before padding out of the safe hollow of camp.

Wolfpaw treaded behind his new mentor while his brothers bounded ahead. And while Coyotepaw and Jackalpaw were asking questions that he probably should've joined in on he couldn't help just enjoying the scenery.

He was leaning over to get a better look at the Great Marsh Wolfpaw's eye caught something. It was a flash of red, at first he thought it was Jackalpaw but the pelt wasn't tabby, it was ticked. Then he thought it was a fox but it was too small.

Wolfpaw blinked and whatever he saw was gone, "Sageclaw? Did you see something?"

The she-cat looked towards the marsh, "I don't see anything, or smell anything either." Wolfpaw just shrugged, "Okay." But he could vouch to StarClan that he just saw a cat, he turned his attention back to Ghostheart who was lecturing about the types of prey in a swamp.

* * *

"Nice job Wolfpaw, it was a bit late but you caught something!" Sageclaw meowed. Wolfpaw sat up from the painfully orchestrated hunter crouch and kill.

"Thanks...."

"Take you mouse back to camp and then you can get something to eat and take a break." she advised to the young apprentice and headed back to camp. Wolfpaw was about to follow her instructions when he involuntarily looked up, this time he didn't even see anything.

Sniffing the air he couldn't smell anything then the normal cat smell but that was probably from being so close to camp. Snatching up his mouse he bounded back into the camp. He tossed the mouse into the fresh-kill pile and grabbed a water vole for himself.

He padded over to the Apprentice Den where Jackalpaw was already seated knawing on a frog. Setting down the vole he lowered himself down to Jackalpaw's level.

"Jackalpaw, do you ever become paranoid?" Wolfpaw asked as neutrally as possible.

"Paranoid? No, why?" Jackalpaw asked back between bites of what in Wolfpaw's eyes was a putrid animal with even more putrid flesh.

"Never mind, someone like you'll never know what paranoia even is." he scoffed and started eating his own piece of prey. Jackalpaw looked up with half shock and half hurt before blowing it off.

"Ghostheart taught me how to climb today!" he chirped happily.

"What do you mean taught you? Everyone knows how to climb just not...very well. Sageclaw taught me how to hunt." Wolfpaw countered.

Lifting his head he peered between the undergrowth wondering if his self diagnosed paranoia would make the red cat appear again.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is located by the lake territories so Moonpool to Moonstone and so on. To be completely honest from the third series onward the Warrior's series has disappointed me a bit. For the record this is not based off of Jay, Lion, and Holly, the plot has nothing to do with StarClan given powers.

For those that don't know, if you want an example of a ticked red pelt look up the Abyssinian cat on Google Image.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey! Look, there's a thrush!" Jackalpaw squeaked.

"Shut up mousebrain, you'll scare it away." Wolfpaw snapped back. The auburn kitten slowly crept towards the bird his paws moving in tiny jerking movements. Finally he rushed at it and pummeled into the thrush.

The three apprentices have been shoved into an assesment the second they perfected the hunting crouch.

'Get to the Great Marsh by sunhigh and catch as much prey as you can on the way there' Ghostheart had declared in such a way that the mice would've obeyed her. Wolfpaw set his thrush down by Jackalpaw's two sparrows and Coyotepaw's magpie.

That was pretty much all they could carry so the three apprentices carried on to Great Marsh in their usual assembly line: Jackalpaw first, Coyotepaw in the middle, and Wolfpaw bringing up the rear.

Wolfpaw's amber eyes were half closed from the heat of the day and was walking mechanically. Shalefur was there to meet them at the Great Marsh and after a swift analysis of their mistakes, sent the three of them home.

Jackalpaw and Coyotepaw were busy chatting away and making plans to brag to everyone about their assessment. Wolfpaw walked behind them but stopped for a moment.

"Hey...look at those berries...." he pondered to himself.

"I wouldn't touch those, nightshade can kill you."

Wolfpaw jumped a foot in the air and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up as he stared at the form that appeared seemingly out of no where. Red ticked fur, so he wasn't paranoid after all, but now the problem was the fact that there's a loner right in front of him and if the loner decided to swat him, there wasn't a thing up in StarClan he could do about it.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Wolfpaw asked his voice stuttering.

"Me? Call me Mask and all I ask is to be left alone." the red cat replied still showing no signs of attack.

"Alone? Well if it's solitude you want then why are you here? There's got to be dozens of cats here and that's ShadowClan alone!" Wolfpaw exclaimed forgetting to be scared for a second.

"Yes I realize that but if you think about it, my ancestors and the ancestors of all the loners here were at the lack far before your ancestors migrated here." Mask replied nonchalantly.

"Well...hm...." Wolfpaw took a moment to consider what was said and found that he had no answer. "Well...I can't relate since I'm not clanborn."

"So you're a loner, like me." Mask remarked, "Heh, you probably wouldn't want to think that right? All those tales about blood thirsty demons that don't follow your warrior code? Well the warrior code isn't everything, generations of loners have survived perfectly without your code. The clans know nothing about anything outside of their society." An almost undetectable trace of bitterness entered the loner's voice.

Wolfpaw now was sitting down with his tail curled thoughtfully around his paws with his head tilted slightly to the side. "But I live in a clan, that means I'm a clan cat."

"Maybe, but can you stay a clan cat? Loners have their own agenda, the code of relations with your own kind is deeply ingrained in your history, it's in your blood."

Wolfpaw's attention was diverted by a call of "Wolfpaw! Come on!" by Coyotepaw. The second he turned back Mask was gone, the leaves weren't even disturbed. He blinked rapidly trying to piece out if he just had a hallucination.

"No way, there is no way I just imaged all that up!" Wolfpaw meowed to himself, "But there's not even any scent or paw prints...." he reasoned in contrast. Another call from Coyotepaw set him packing to catch up with his siblings.

"What's the matter? You look like you just saw a ghost." Jackalpaw teased, "Aren't you always the calm and collected one?"

"Aw shut it you furball." Wolfpaw considered tackling Jackalpaw but gave it up, he'll settle things once they got back to camp.

"I just had a brief encounter or if you prefer a hallucination about some random loner who comes here and says he wants to be left alone and that the clans pretty much stole all of the territory from the loners that were here before and said that we might live in the clan but loner blood is in our roots." Wolfpaw ranted in one breath.

"Huh? But the clans have always been here!" Jackalpaw protested.

"Well we don't know that for a fact but why does it matter? The clan saved us from dying, if Ghostheart never picked us up then we wouldn't bee here right now." Coyotepaw corrected.

"Hm, I guess you're right." Wolfpaw let himself be convinced, Coyotepaw had quite a few good points on that one. He owed it to ShadowClan, besides, Thunderclan seemed to be more of the target for hatred then some loner.

The three of them entered the camp quite happy with their accomplishments for the day. But the varioius warriors lying about weren't sharing tongues as usual almost everyone was sitting under the Shadow Tree muttering among themselves.

"What's going on?" Coyotepaw asked a nearby warrior.

"A patrol got ambushed by the RiverClan border." he answered swiftly.

"RiverClan? Didn't RiverClan and ShadowClan get along from the time of Blackstar?" Wolfpaw retorted.

"Kestrelstar never did like ShadowClan, remember what the elders were saying about the skirmish during the Gathering?" Jackalpaw reminded him.

"Yeah but it's not worth it, starting a conflict just because you don't like someone." Wolfpaw remarked.

"This doesn't mean a war you know." Coyotepaw cut in.

After figuring out that the three of them couldn't make whiskers or tails of this mess they trudged back to their den and Wolfpaw paid Jackalpaw back.

* * *

_Wolfpaw sat up and blinked, where the heck was he? He didn't have time to consider as a shriek pierced the air and a spray of something wet hit his fur. A foul metallic scent filled the air and for no reason in paticular Wolfpaw found himself booking into the dark forest. A carcass fell directly in his path and he stopped so fast he nearly sat down. Cat fur coated the dead shape, skirting around Wolfpaw kept speeding forward. Onwards he tripped over a pile of dead bodies, there were more screams and yowls and live cats were clawing at each other. Some unknown sense made him look to the left and saw a shadow of a cat shape. At first he thought it was the red cat Mask but the cat's fur looked more gray then anything. "Come on." it invited, "this isn't worth it...right?"_

Wolfpaw woke up and stood up with all his fur on end, after crushing his fear underpaw he hurried out of the den and into the center of the camp. He felt himself drawn to the medicine cat den.

"Darkwing? Are you awake?" he squeaked into the dark den.

"I guess I am now, is that Wolfpaw?" the voice answered.

"Yeah, can I ask you a question?" Wolfpaw asked with the kind of frankness only kittens can poccess. "Sure what is it?" Darkwing asked.

"Um...is it...dishonorable for a clan cat to become a loner you know...if things become really hectic?"

Darkwing twitched his ear, "Why would you ask that? Are you thinking of leaving?"

"What? No! I just had bad dream thats all." Wolfpaw denied.

"Well...if they desert in the middle of battle then yes I would think so but some times it's a choice, remember Ravenpaw?" Darkwing suggested.

_Yeah but Ravenpaw was clan born, wait what am I thinking?! I am not going anywhere!_

"But why do clan cats hate loners and rouges so much?"

Darkwing shrugged, "Some clan cats have no imagination, other times there's reason to hate. But it's best to leave loners alone."

Wolfpaw decided to confide in what Mask said, "But some loners have been here before the clans right?"

"Yes, that's exactly right." Darkwing's dark blue eyes suddenly became much more serious. "But this is survival, the strongest survive and the loners haven't come up with anything to drive us away."

"But the clans don't know anything about loners...right?"

"Maybe but it's not like we can do much to find out eh?" Darkwing's unusual seriousness broke off. "Go back to sleep Wolfpaw."

"Oh, okay." Wolfpaw obeyed and scuttled back to the Apprentice Den. He felt strangely reassured by the medicine cat's mild humor and didn't dream again for the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

"Well done Jackalpaw!" Ghostheart praised as the apprentice bowled over his smaller brown brother.

Jackalpaw beamed his russet fur standing up in patches, he got off a disgruntled Wolfpaw who looked just as disheveled. Then with a growl Wolfpaw struck upwards and set Jackalpaw on his tail.

"Hey!" Jackalpaw mewed. "No fair! That was cheap!"

"So what? I won didn't I? What does it matter how I won?" Wolfpaw protested. The two kittens glared at each other ruefully for a few seconds before glancing away. Sageclaw grinned at Shalefur who shook his head amused.

"That's good for now, go out and hunt then you can eat and rest." Ghostheart meowed before bounding back into camp with the other two warriors. The three kittens scurried off in unison their previous argument instantly forgotten.

They scrambled about the undergrowth with their noses on the floor. Coyotepaw, the best hunter was the first to catch scent of sparrow and with a few bounds secured his prey. Shaking feathers off his nose Coyotepaw displayed his catch to his two brothers.

Before anyone could say anything they heard the sounds of frantic running. Whirling around the black fur of Blackstripe made the warrior look like a black blur. Jamming to a stop before the three kittens he breathlessly meowed, "Back to camp now, all of you."

Before Wolfpaw could even mew out a "why?" they were hearded back like ducklings and a mother duck in reverse. As Blackstripe tumbled the trio back to camp the apprentices could see warriors peppering the camp, some with torn fur and scratches and queens shoving kits back into the nursery.

"What happened now?" Jackalpaw wailed, there were no other apprentices to answer the question. "RiverClan." one of the warriors provided. Before anyone could complain Duststar was calling for a meeting by the Shadow Tree.

The first part of the speech Wolfpaw didn't understand, something about battle tactics and training moves. The second part dismayed the sole three apprentices: "No cat is to leave camp without at least two warriors."

Once dusk fefll the three apprentices curled up in their den complaining to each other. "That's no fair, now we'll never get to do anything fun." Coyotepaw mewed sadly.

"Makes sense but doesn't make it any easier." Jackalpaw grumbled.

"Just go to sleep mouse brains!" came from Wolfpaw.

Despite his annoyance Wolfpaw could not follow his own advice. He lay awake for hours tossing and turning. When he finally achieved a light doze he still kept waking up at regular intervals.

When dawn finally came more torture was coming Wolfpaw's way. "Wolfpaw, Coyotepaw, Jackalpaw, dawn patrol!" Shalefur barked. Wolfpaw tucked his head back into his paws praying to StarClan that this was a dream. Dawn patrol, any patrol was boring but dawn patrol was worse then any seeing as how you have to wake up early.

Internally grumbling Wolfpaw dragged his dark brown form up and slinked after Shalefur. The cold morning marsh cooled his paws and plastered the fur on his legs. Jackalpaw was still yawning and Coyotepaw looked half asleep. Wolfpaw somehow managed to keep his head up. He looked around eagerly trying to spot the ruddy cat Mask.

He saw nothing of the kind.

He felt numb and heard nothing until Shalefur suddenly shoved him face first into the mud. He struggled instinctively letting out muffled mews. "Quiet!" Shalefur whispered putting a stop to the kitten like noises.

Jackal and Coyotepaw were also flattened against the mud. Jackalpaw risked a quick glance over the rocks and saw three cats with distinctively glossy fur.

_They must be RiverClan!_

Secretly Jackalpaw felt a want to jump out and fight them, to prove his strength. Needless to say the apprentice felt ashamed for such reckless thoughts.

The rest of the day proved to be fruitless as they were confined to camp like a bunch of insolent kits. Wolfpaw was padding out of the nursery after bringing prey to the queens. He felt a bit upset, there were no other apprentices beside him and his brothers.

_By the time there's any other apprentices to play with we'll be warriors. _he thought sadly. Wolfpaw took the path behind the nursery to get to the Apprentice Den when he spotted a flash of movement.

Red fur.

His jaw nearly fell on the floor, what was with Mask? Was he a StarClan warrior? Some kind of super cat? "Uh..." was all that came out of the apprentice's mouth.

"Come with me." Mask invited. Not waiting to see if his invitation was accepted the red furred cat padded back into the marsh. His instinct for following orders still strong Wolfpaw scrambled after him. Still more of a kitten he was naturally curious.

Mask led him into a small break in the middle of the swamp. In a loose semi-circle stood three cats. A she-cat with brown fur almost as dark as Wolfpaw's own, a tabby black and white cat, and a gray cat. Wolfpaw found himself focusing on the gray cat as the larger feline stared back at him.

Suddenly aware of the situation the small brown kitten leaped back tensing to run for his life. "Stay." Mask ordered standing to Wolfpaw's side.

"W-what are you going to do?" Wolfpaw stuttered, "A-a-are you going to eat me?"

"We're not going to eat you, we just want to talk to you." the gray cat answered while the tabby cat grinned. "I'll introduce, you already know Mask," the gray cat flicked his tail over to the dark brown cat, "this is Peony." He then nodded to the tabby cat, "and Pine. I understand you're Wolfpaw."

Wolfpaw blinked, "Wait, you skipped yourself."

"Rain. I think I know you." the gray cat answered.

Wolfpaw was stunned at the quick skipping over one's own name but he was stunned even more at the second part. "Huh? W-what's that mean?"

"I know where you came from, who you are." Rain replied simply. "You're mother was a loner as I'm sure you know. She didn't leave you, she died, a fox killed her."

Wolfpaw tilted his head trying to piece together why it mattered. Rain quickly continued to explain. "You don't owe anything to the clans."

"But we would've died!" Wolfpaw shrieked shrilly.

"You just didn't wait long enough. Whatever you've heard about loners, no one's cold hearted enough to leave kittens out in the cold." Peony meowed.

Wolfpaw flattened his ears, "If you want me to leave home then you should know that I'm not going anywhere!"

"Home? That is not your home, it is just a place you live." Mask corrected.

"Isn't that what home means?" Wolfpaw wailed. The brown kitten looked over a Pine who had not said a single word, Pine smiled back but was as silent as ever. "I'm sorry Wolfpaw but Pine is mute." Rain informed. "You do not understand how deep your heritage lies, you would not believe how many loners live around this lake and its outskirts. Few loners can stay in a clan forever."

Wolfpaw felt his legs go weak trying to stuff all the information in his head. Another kitten might have blanked out by now. "Enough." Mask interrupted, "Let him go, we can talk another time." the ruddy cat then lowered himself to Wolfpaw's level, "You won't tell anyone of this meeting will you?"

The brown kitten's amber eyes opened wide, "You can't expect me to do that!" he meowed loudly. "Talking about it won't do you any good, we're simply asking you to come back where you belong. Is that such a crime? Think about what we've said, the choice is yours, not your clan leader's." Mask advised. Wolfpaw said nothing.

"Just keep heading in this direction, you'll get back to your camp soon."


End file.
